Collapsible fish net

ABSTRACT

A collapsible fish net including a hoop for supporting a flexible, mesh basket portion and also including a neck member secured to the hoop. The neck member has an opening therethrough which extends radially relative to the hoop, and a handle is slidably mounted in such opening for moving a portion thereof into the hoop to reduce the overall size of the net. Latch means are connected between the neck member and the handle and include a latch pin in the handle engageable with a bayonet slot in the neck member whereby the latch means are moved into a locking position for securing the handle in a use condition by a combination of relative axial movement and axial rotation of the neck member and handle. A lock member is used in the latch means to positively hold the neck member and handle latched together. The hoop has disconnected ends secured to the neck member by frictional engagement in bores in the neck member. The hoop is made of springy material, and the disconnected ends of the hoop in the manufacture thereof are disposed apart a distance different than the distance between the bores in the neck member so that the frictional engagement of the ends of the hoop in the bores is accomplished by a springing action developed from springing the ends of the hoop to a spacing to fit in the bores.

United States Patent [72] Inventor James D. Maxwell 11001 SE. 19th St., Vancouver. Wash.

98664 [21} Appl. No. 829,519 [22] Filed June 2, 1969 [45] Patented May 25, 1971 [54] COLLAPSIBLE FISH NET 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 43/12 [51] lnt.Cl ...A01k 77/00 [50] Field ofSearch 43/11, 12

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,172,056 2/1916 Schenfield 43/12 1,894,192 l/1933 Olson 43/12 2,066,439 1/1937 Wine 43/12 2,645,874 7/1953 Collins 43/12 Primary ExaminerWarner l-l. Camp AttornevEugene M. Eckelman ABSTRACT: A collapsible fish net including a hoop for supporting a flexible, mesh basket portion and also including a neck member secured to the hoop. The neck member has an opening therethrough which extends radially relative to the hoop, and a handle is slidably mounted in such opening for moving a portion thereof into the hoop to reduce the overall size of the net. Latch means are connected between the neck member and the handle and include a latch pin in the handle engageable with a bayonet slot in the neck member whereby the latch means are moved into a locking position for securing the handle in a use condition by a combination of relative axial movement and axial rotation of the neck member and handle. A lock member is used in the latch means to positively hold the neck member and handle latched together. The hoop has disconnected ends secured to the neck member by frictional engagement in bores in the neck member. The hoop is made of springy material, and the disconnected ends of the hoop in the manufacture thereof are disposed apart a distance different than the distance between the bores in the neck member so that the frictional engagement of the ends of the hoop in the bores is accomplished by a springing action developed from springing the ends of the hoop to a spacing to fit in the bores.

PATENTEU HAY25 aem COLLAPSIBILE FISH NET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to new and useful improvements in fishing nets of the collapsible type.

Fishing nets have heretofore been provided which are collapsible for compacting the net into a smaller package for carrying or storage. Such prior devices are complicated in structure and economically unfeasible to manufacture. Also, some of the collapsing structures have latch means which are difficult to operate, particularly in haste. A further disadvantage of some of the existing collapsible structures is that the latch means have protrusions or sharp edges which snag on clothing or, too, the flexible mesh basket portion of the net often catches on latch means of the frame to interfere with netting SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary objective of the present invention to provide a collapsible fish net construction which has a novel combination of features, namely, it has a simplified construe tion facilitating economy of manufacture", it has a novel construction for compacting the net for storage and shipment; and the structure of the net together with the latch means is absent of sharp projections which are apt to be accidentally snagged by the basket portion of the net on the fishermans clothing.

More particular objects of the present invention are to provide a collapsible fish net construction employing a hoop and a neck member for the hoop, as well as a handle which has slidable engagement in the neck member so that the handle can be moved forwardly wherein a forward portion thereof projects into the hoop, and including novel latch means associated therewith which facilitates rapid and easy positioning of the handle to a use position of the net merely by a slight combination of relative axial movement and relative axial rotation of the neck member and handle; to provide latch means in association with the neck member and handle which includes a latch pin in one of the handle or neck member and a bayonet slot in the other of the handle or neck member, whereby the locked position of the latch pin is accomplished first by the relative axial movement of said handle and neck member for movement of the latch pin into a first slot portion and then by relative axial rotation of said handle and neck member for movement ofthe latch pin into a second slot portion; to include a lock on the latch means which positively prevents accidental disengagement of the latch means in that said lock means is arranged such that it must be manually released; to construct the neck member of plastic and the handle of metal providing a substantially permanent sliding fit; and further more to provide a novel assembly method of the hoop and neck member wherein the hoop is constructed of a springy material and has disconnected ends and the neck member has a pair of bores which are spaced to require that the disconnected ends of the hoop be sprung to a spacing to fit in the bores to accomplish a good frictional connection.

The invention will be better understood and additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description which illustrates a preferred form of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view of the net construction of the present invention and showing in phantom lines a collapsed position of the handle, this view also showing in phantom lines a normal shape of the hoop portion for the purpose of assembly;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a neck member and handle of the net showing principally the internal construction of such neck member and handle, a portion of latch means for locking the neck member and handle together being shown in an unlocked position in phantom lines;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the latch means in released position for moving the handle to a compacted position of the net; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2 showing the latch means in locked position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in particular to the drawings, the fish net construction of the present invention employs generally a hoop 10, a neck member 12, and a handle 14. Hoop 10 is arranged to support a flexible mesh basket portion 13, and for purposes of assembly the hoop has disconnected ends 16, FIG. 2, which project into oppositely extending bores 18 provided in lateral projections 20 of the neck member 12. The hoop 10 is preferably constructed of a springy material such as aluminum, steel, certain kinds of plastic, or the like, and in its manufacture the two disconnected ends 16 are spaced-apart a greater or smaller distance than the distance between the bores 18. In assembly such disconnected ends are sprung togetheror apart for inserting them into said bores. The frictional engagement of the hoop ends 16 with the sidewalls of the bores 18, and particularly the binding engagement caused by the spring distortion of the hoop, forms a good connection. Such a construction is economical in the manufacture of the product not only in providing a minimum of parts but also in the ease of assembly. The hoop is easily removed by springing the hoop ends into alignment with the bores 18 and pulling them out.

Neck member 12 has a longitudinal axial bore 22 which receives the handle 14 in a rather close tolerance but slidable fit. To make the net more compact for handling and storage, the handle 14 is adapted to be slid forwardly so that a forward portion thereof projects into the hoop. The collapsed or compacted position of the handle is shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1. The handle may be of any length desired as for example it may be shorter than that shown so that it is substantially fully enclosed within the hoop when the net is compacted.

It is desired that the handle be securely locked to the neck member 12 in the use position of the net. For this purpose, applicant provides a novel latch mechanism which while being easy to operate is nevertheless positive in action. Such a latch comprises an end plug 24 secured integrally within the inner end of the handle 14 it being assumed for the purpose hereof that the handle 14 is tubular and the plug 24 has a press fit in the forward end of said handle. Plug 24 has a head 25 of the same diameter as the outer diameter of the handle, the bottom of such head abutting against the end of the handle. Plug 24 has a central bore 26 for slidably receiving a lock member 28 which is urged rearwardly of the handle by a compression spring 30 mounted on the lock member and abutted between the rearward end surface of the plug 24 and an end enlargement 32 on the lock member. The forward end of the lock member has a head 34 of larger diameter than the head 25 of the plug 24. Head 25 includes a pair of integral locking projections 36 disposed in diametrical relation and extending beyond the side edge thereof. Projecting rearwardly from the head 34 is a pair of diametrically spaced side fingers 40 which comprise locking fingers as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. Lock member 28 has slidable movement relative to the plug 24 but is held nonrotatable in the plug by means of a key 42 forming an integral part of the lock member'and slidably engaged in a slot 44 in the plug.

Leading inwardly from the forward end of the neck member 12 on opposite sides of the bore 22 are bayonet slots or recesses 48. A right angle or lateral portion of the bayonet slot is designated by the numeral 50 and is best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Bayonet slots 48 and the projections 36 on the head 34 are arranged such that the handle 14 can be rotated to align projections 36 with respective slots 48, as seen in FIG. 3, and then moved rearwardly to a position such that the projections 36 are disposed in slot portion 48. When the projections are at the bottom of slots 48, the handle can be rotated clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4, to move the projections 36 into slot portions 50. It is apparent in such position of the projections 36 that the handle is locked against longitudinal or axial movement. The slidable lock member 28 serves to lock the handle in its turned position as just described, and for the purpose of positively maintaining it in locked condition, the fingers 40 are arranged to extend to the bottom of slots 48 to prevent projections 36 from becoming aligned with slots 48. Thus, a positive lock is established between the handle 14 and the neck member 12 by moving the handle rearwardly so that the projections 36 move into slots 48 and then turning the handle clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4 to move the projections 36 into the slot portions 50. With the fingers 40 disposed fully in the slots 48 the projections 36 are locked in their slot portions 50 to establish the positive lock mentioned above.

Head 34 is urged rearwardly by the spring 30, and to unlock the handle 14 from the neck member 12 it is necessary to manually lift the head against the action of spring so that the projections 36 can be turned into alignment with the main recess portion to move the handle forwardly into the compacting position wherein a forward portion of the handle extends into the hoop.

As best seen in FIG. 3 fingers are offset circumferentially from the projections 36 an amount substantially the peripheral or lateral length of auxiliary slot 50, for a purpose to be described hereinafter.

To lock the handle to the neck member 12 in a use position of the net, the handle is merely pulled rearwardly and rotatably positioned such that the projections 36 align with respective slots 48. Further rearward movement of the handle moves the projections 36 to the bottom of slots 48, and since fingers 40 are offset circumferentially from the projections 36 they will engage the end surface of neck member 12 and will cause the lock member 28 to remain stationary as said projections move to the bottom of the slots 48. Spring 30 is being compressed as thisrelative movement between the handle 14 and the lock member takes place. The handle is then rotated in the direction of slot portions 50, and as projections 36 move into said slot portions the lock member simultaneously rotates to align fingers 40 with the slots 48, thus allowing the lock member to snap into a seated position against the head of plug 24 with its fingers 40 fully penetrating slots 48 to lock projections 36 in slot portions 50.

It is apparent that the handle is locked in place simply by pulling it rearwardly and rotating it relative to the neck member 12 until the lock member 28 snaps into place. Such is easily and rapidly accomplished. The unlocking of the handle from the neck member for compacting the net, however, requires two hands in that the lack member must be moved forwardly against the action of spring 30 an amount such that fingers 40 move forwardly out of bayonet slots 48. The handle is then rotated relative to neck member 12 in a direction to release the projections 36 from the slot portions 50. The handle can then be moved forwardly in the hoop to the phantom line position in FIG. 1. The present fish net thus provides for a fast and positive movement and locking of the handle to a use position of the net and such locking means requires two-hand manual release to insure that the handle will stay locked in a use position.

The neck member 12 is constructed such that it has no sharp edges or other means which can hook on foreign articles or can foul on the basket portion of the net. Furthermore, all portions of the locking means between the handle 14 and the neck member 12 are concealed to also prevent fouling of the net in use.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape. size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention,

lclaim:

l. A fish net construction comprising:

a. a hoop portion arranged to support a flexible, mesh basket portion thereon for netting a fish;

b. a neck member secured to said hoop;

c. a handle having forward and rearward ends;

d. said neck member having an opening therein extending and use conditions of the net;

e. said handle in the compacted condition of the net being disposed forwardly wherein a portion thereof projects into the hoop and in the use condition of the net being disposed rearwardly to increase the gripping length thereof;

f. said handle being rotatably supported in said opening; and

g. latch means on said neck member and handle including cooperating engageable parts arranged to be moved into a locked position for putting the handle in the use condition of the net and locked against rotative movement in said neck member by a combination of relative axial movement and axial rotation of said neck member and handle.

2. The fish net of claim 1 wherein said latch means comprises at least one lock pin in one of said neck member and handle and a slot in the other of said neck member and handle for receiving the lock pin.

3. The fish net of claim 2 wherein:

a. said lock pin is provided on said handle and said slot is provided in said neck member; and

b. said slot comprising a first portion extending inwardly from a surface of said neck member in a direction parallel with the axis of said opening and a second portion extending laterally to said opening in communication with and at the bottom of said first slot portion whereby the locked position of the lock pin is accomplished first by the relative axial movement of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said first slot portion and then by relative axial rotation of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said second slot portion.

4. A fish net construction comprising:

a. a hoop portion arranged to support a flexible, mesh basket portion thereon for netting a fish;

b. a neck member secured to said hoop;

c. a handle having forward and rearward ends;

d. said neck member having an opening therein extending radially with relation to said hoop and slidably receiving said handle for movement of the latter between compacted and use conditions of the net;

e. said handle in the compacted condition of the net being disposed forwardly wherein a portion thereof projects into the hoop and in the use condition of the net being disposed rearwardly to increase the gripping length thereof;

a lock pin on said handle;

. means defining a slot in said neck member;

. said slot having a first portion extending inwardly from a surface of said neck member in a direction parallel with the axis of said opening and a second portion extending laterally to said opening in communication with and at the bottom of said first slot portion whereby the locked position of the lock pin is accomplished first by the relative axial movement of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said first slot portion and then by relative axial rotation of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said second slot portion; and

i. a spring pressed locking cap on said handle having a finger extension arranged for engagement with said first slot portion to prevent disengaging rotative movement of said lock pin from said second slot portion.

5. The fish net of claim 4 wherein said locking cap is spring pressed toward the engaging position of its finger extension in said first slot portion, said locking cap being manually retractable when it is desired to release said locked engagement between said neck member and handle. 

1. A fish net construction comprising: a. a hoop portion arranged to support a flexible, mesh basket portion thereon for netting a fish; b. a neck member secured to said hoop; c. a handle having forward and rearward ends; d. said neck member having an opening therein extending radially with relation to said hoop and slidably receiving said handle for movement of the latter between compact and use conditions of the net; e. said handle in the compacted condition of the net being disposed forwardly wherein a portion thereof projects into the hoop and in the use condition of the net being disposed rearwardly to increase the gripping length thereof; f. said handle being rotatably supported in said opening; and g. latch means on said neck member and handle including cooperating engageable parts arranged to be moved into a locked position for putting the handle in the use condition of the net and locked against rotative movement in said neck member by a combination of relative axial movement and axial rotation of said neck member and handle.
 2. The fish net of claim 1 wherein said latch means comprises at least one lock pin in one of said neck member and handle and a slot in the other of said neck member and handle for receiving the lock pin.
 3. The fish net of claim 2 wherein: a. said lock pin is provided on said handle and said slot is provided in said neck member; and b. said slot comprising a first portion extending inwardly from a surface of said neck member in a direction parallel with the axis of said opening and a second portion extending laterally to said opening in communication with and at the bottom of said first slot portion whereby the locked position of the lock pin is accomplished first by the relative axial movement of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said first slot portion and then by relative axial rotation of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said second slot portion.
 4. A fish net construction comprising: a. a hoop portion arranged to support a flexible, mesh basket portion thereon for netting a fish; b. a neck mEmber secured to said hoop; c. a handle having forward and rearward ends; d. said neck member having an opening therein extending radially with relation to said hoop and slidably receiving said handle for movement of the latter between compacted and use conditions of the net; e. said handle in the compacted condition of the net being disposed forwardly wherein a portion thereof projects into the hoop and in the use condition of the net being disposed rearwardly to increase the gripping length thereof; f. a lock pin on said handle; g. means defining a slot in said neck member; h. said slot having a first portion extending inwardly from a surface of said neck member in a direction parallel with the axis of said opening and a second portion extending laterally to said opening in communication with and at the bottom of said first slot portion whereby the locked position of the lock pin is accomplished first by the relative axial movement of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said first slot portion and then by relative axial rotation of said handle and neck member for movement of said lock pin into said second slot portion; and i. a spring pressed locking cap on said handle having a finger extension arranged for engagement with said first slot portion to prevent disengaging rotative movement of said lock pin from said second slot portion.
 5. The fish net of claim 4 wherein said locking cap is spring pressed toward the engaging position of its finger extension in said first slot portion, said locking cap being manually retractable when it is desired to release said locked engagement between said neck member and handle. 